
Class 2 

Book 



Copyright N°_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




SARAH FRANCES MEADER 



Slje SJimttg ©ruttj 



BY 

SARAH FRANCES MEADER 



Author of 
"Tiie Business Side of Tne New Tnougni,~etc. 



New York 

GOODYEAR BOOK CONCERN 

1913 



0\ 



Copyright, 1913, by 
GOODYEAR BOOK CONCERN 



DEC 26 1913 



/. 



©CI.A358871 

x-o/ 



DEDICATION 
As a grateful tribute to the memory of my friend, 
Warren F. Evans, pioneer Teacher, Author, and 
Healer, who helped me to realize the Human Trin- 
ity of Body, Soul, and Spirit — the one as important 
as the other — I dedicate this book. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I. God and Man : Creation 9 

II. God and Man : Intelligence . . • 21 

III. God and Man : Order 37 

IV. Power : Knowledge Is Power ... 53 
V. The Healing Power: Physical 

Health 67 

VI. Use 77 



INTRODUCTION 

There is but one Truth in the universe, 
God's Truth, which is eternal and unchang- 
ing. This Truth includes all things, and in 
it lies the secret of human health, prosperity, 
and happiness. All men are searching for 
it, in some way or another, and when one 
finds a clear leading, it is an occasion of 
great rejoicing. After nearly thirty years 
of searching as teacher and healer, I have 
found an open way, and what more natural 
than that I should send a cheerful hail to 
my fellow searchers out in the tangled ways? 
Rejoicing in the truth, I send this little 
book, trusting that we together may attain 
the much desired end: a life of usefulness 
and peace. 



LESSON I 



GOD AND MAN: CREATION 

In these lessons we are to study man as 
body, soul, and spirit. An intelligent com- 
prehension of the physical body, as related 
to the mind, a knowledge of the soul as the 
source of the active conscious thought, an 
understanding of spirit as the life principle, 
the Divine in the universe, constitutes the 
equipment of one who desires to minister to 
the sick, sinful, or sorrowing fellow-being 
as physician or friend. 

We of the New Thought practice are often 
questioned as to the difference between our 
doctrine and that of Christian Science. In 
the first place, New Thought gives the stu- 
dent the largest liberty to think from the 
God within, instead of the mandatory con- 
ceptions of another. 

One of the first textbooks on Mental Heal- 



10 The Living Truth 

ing, was Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, 
who claims to be the Founder and Discov- 
erer of Christian Science. One of the state- 
ments of the remarkable book is: "All is 
mind, there is no matter. There is no life, 
substance, or intelligence in matter." (A 
superfluous statement, if matter does not 
exist. ) It says again, "Deny the evidence of 
the Senses." Sense evidence is a lie. The 
old-time students, who honestly tried to be- 
lieve it, were not allowed to question, and as 
a result many of the daring ones drifted 
away into Divine Science, Spiritual Heal- 
ing, Mental Science, Mind Cure, and other 
metaphysical cults wiiich are now associ- 
ated and classified under the JN T ew Thought 
Alliance, one of the grandest movements for 
the spread of the practical Christ Teaching 
in all the world. 

We teach a solid truth on which we all 
can meet in harmony. God created all 
things. He gave an inborn intelligence to 
every atom, that it might find its proper 
relation to every other atom ; which relation- 
ship, properly understood, would manifest 
together a grand, harmonious whole. 

To perfect this grand harmony, each crea- 
tion is capable of its highest development, 
according to the law of its kind. The soul 



The Living Truth 11 

that inquires, is the soul that gets wisdom. 
We have the right to ask an explanation of 
every phenomenon. Explain, not deny. In 
this way, alone, can we get at the truth of 
things. Let us inquire the meaning of every 
adverse condition. Facing our difficulties 
in the right spirit, we see them in a new 
Light. 

In its right place everything is good. But 
if it brings trouble to us the relationship is 
at fault, and "Get thee behind me, Satan/' 
is the only attitude to take. 

Let us start this study of right living on a 
sure foundation. There is one thing we are 
all sure of. Here am I, a living breathing 
sentient creation. From whence did I come, 
and whither do I tend? It will take a life- 
time to work out the whole problem, but 
there is a right way of getting about it. 

"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth 
shall make you free." Free from what? 
From any bondage which hinders one's 
progress toward the highest and best ex- 
pression of one's capabilities and desires. 
Truth is of God ! Let us find out first of all. 
what is God, and what is our relation tc 
Him. Here is a foundation thought. "Be- 
cause God IS, I exist," means to stand ou1 
from a Creative Cause which we call God 



12 The Lwing Truth 

Let us be still for a moment with, this 
thought, God is everywhere and God is Here. 

( Silence. ) 

To exist is from the Latin Ex, out from, 
and Sister, to stand or cause to stand. A 
word is the sign of an idea. Right words 
are carefully constructed. Through the 
word or symbol of the Idea there is breathed 
a spirit, which gives it power. I exist or 
stand apart. A being put forth from a Crea- 
tive Cause. Because God is, I exist. 

To learn of the Being we reverently call 
God, and our relation to Him, is the first 
lesson in Metaphysical Study. It is the 
Basic principle on which we are to build 
the fair structure of human health and hap- 
piness. "Things of the Spirit must be Spir- 
itually discerned," therefore, we must inter- 
pret God, by the best there is in us. God is 
ever the highest conception of Man's individ- 
ual consciousness. 

It is natural and right to reason from the 
manifestation which appears, to our con- 
sciousness. With the natural vision, we dis- 
cern proofs of a creative force* beyond our 
forces, creative and powerful. The natural 
world teems with organisms having bodies 
and functions of their own. 



The Living Truth 13 

As our consciousness unfolds, we perceive 
an accuracy in form and function, which 
adapts each to a harmonious action with 
the other; a law which harmonizes all 
created things. We learn, too, that we, as 
individuals, are related by undeviating man- 
ifestations, to all that is. We are one with 
the universe, one with each other, one with 
God. This is the basic principle of Meta- 
physical Teaching, and on this principle we 
must stand firmly, in order to demonstrate 
health and happiness. 

"God is everywhere, God is here," in every 
situation. God is good, God is great, but 
not too great nor too good to ignore me. 
What is God to me, and what am I to God? 
This is the purpose of my study. Metaphys- 
ics is the study of a life principle. The word 
signifies Met a, beyond; and Physics, the 
science of natural things. It is a term first 
used by Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, 
who reasoned from things visible, or the 
science of natural things, to that superior 
law, the science of the Mind, or that which 
is above and beyond the natural. We may 
concisely define Metaphysics, then, as a 
scientific interpretation of mental phenom- 
ena, since it teaches us to look beyond na- 
tural causes, for physical effects, and to 



14 The Living Truth 

draw away from the sense of outward 
things, to the revealings which come of a 
communion with the deep things of the 
spirit. 

Upon our present plane of consciousness, 
we are brought face to face with much that 
seems undesirable ; with that which hinders 
and holds us. So much that we struggle 
and fret against, and desire to be rid of. 
Why is it? 

If we are put forth from God, Who is 
good, life must be good, and in the eternal 
justice of things, there must be a way out 
of troubles and trials, which ill befit a being 
or a race projected from life and law. 

The Law 

"I am the way, the truth, and the life," 
said Jesus, the Son of God. "Ye shall know 
the truth, and the truth shall make you 
free." 

There is an order, a law, which runs 
through all the universe, harmonizing all 
things. There is no conflict in this law. 
There is but one law, one God, one life, one 
Law of life. Man-made interpretations of 
this law are changing and manifesting, but 
God's Law never changes. To understand 
and apply this law, is to be well, prosperous, 



The Living Truth 15 

and happy. Man is included in a universe 
created and ruled in good, and is subject 
to no law but the law of good. This law 
presents five statements for our study. 

1st. Creation, or a putting forth from 
God. We are part of Him, or individual 
manifestations — God-like. 

2d. Intelligence, or a recognition of our- 
selves projected from a Creative Force. 

3rd. Order, or the arrangement of the 
creation, according to the law of its kind. 

4th. Power, which is an inherent endow- 
ment of Creative energy. 

5th. Use, or the purpose of Creation. 

Under these captions we shall study Man, 
and his relations to God, believing we have 
thus systematized the study so that our les- 
sons may be easily understood and applied. 
What do these statements mean? 

As applied to me, they mean, I am God- 
created, put forth from Him, not God, but 
God-like, in my nature and attributes. And 
I am given Intelligence, to Manifest myself 
aright. I recognize the difference between 
myself and the things about me, and become 
conscious of my relation to them. 

In Order, I recognize the law which keeps 
me true to my purpose in the Divine plan. 
This law acts independent of my volition. I 



16 The Living Truth 

have no part in the purpose of my nature or 
kind, but I know, in the Almighty Order, 1 
am placed aright. 

In Power, I learn my best expression, ac- 
cording to my purpose. 

In Use, having Life, Intelligence, Order, 
and Power, I am free to live my best. I am 
subject to no law but the law of good. 

I am here for a purpose, as is every other 
creation. There is no mistake in any created 
thing. Each in its place, is a necessary part 
of the Perfect Whole. If you or I were not 
needed to make a perfect universe, we should 
not be here, seeming imperfections, and diffi- 
culties to the contrary notwithstanding. 

We can not say with truth, "I am good 
for nothing, or past my usefulness." God 
put us here, and He is always with us, and 
in our rightful place, each one is a power 
for good. To ascertain our rightful place in 
the universe, is the purpose of our metaphys- 
ical study. 

Our advent on the stage of existence was 
not through our will, or indeed through any 
human will. God put us here, and He is 
always with us. God is always active, al- 
ways creating. "For in Him we live, and 
move, and have our being." David says, 
"Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or 



The Living Truth 17 

whither shall I flee from Thy Presence V 
Because God is, we exist. It is impossible 
to think of God without His creations, or 
to think of man without God. The two are 
interchangeable and inseparable. This 
shows the significance of the words of Jesus, 
"That they may be one, as Thou, Father, art 
in Me, and I in Thee, that they may be made 
perfect in one." Is not this then an inspir- 
ing truth that we are needed parts in his 
divine universe? 

Why do we not manifest divinity? Why 
are we hampered by sin, sickness, poverty, 
and death? Let us use our intelligence. 
Does God, the All-good, impose such condi- 
tions upon His children? Never. Infinite 
love takes no cognizance of any such abnor- 
mal conditions. "God is too pure to behold 
evil." Such conditions arise from man's 
misconception of his real being, and his non- 
recognition of his true relation to the life 
divine. 

God is not a person, dwelling apart in a 
place called Heaven, having a boundless 
supervision, mysterious to man ; dealing out 
punishment or reward according to human 
merits. Out of such narrow conceptions of 
the Deity comes every sort of sin and mis- 
ery. We are sick, sinful, or unhappy, be- 



18 The Living Truth 

cause of our ignorance of our true relations 
to the all-pervading Good in which we have 
our rightful share! Let us get the right 
idea. Reverently understand that God is 
not vengeful. He has no part in suffering, 
sin, or death. God is Love. God is Light. 
God is Life, God is Wisdom. Everything 
which is bright, holy, and true, is God. He 
is the Principle including and demonstrat- 
ing all good. 

What is Principle? It is the foundation 
truth which harmonizes creation. It is the 
arbitrary fact of existence for which we can 
give no other reason than that it is so, be- 
cause it is. It is something beyond all hu- 
man reasoning, but so exact, so just, so true, 
that by it we may test all things. It is the 
essence of all right; it is everlasting truth, 
everlasting justice, love, goodness ; it is God ; 
of unreality and falsity it has no part. It 
is perfect goodness, and perfect truth. 

When we speak of God as Principle, we 
do not mean a cold chill, something which 
we dare not approach, but a warm, indwell- 
ing life ; something we may live so near to, 
that we may abide in peace; something we 
feel and enjoy; yet a something so majestic 
as to dominate the universe; so grand and 
holy as to include immensity, and yet so 



The Living Truth 19 

laving and watchful, as to fold in its ben- 
eficent care the worm or the atom of dust 
on which we tread. Let our constant af- 
firmation be, "God is all, in all, and over alL 
God is everywhere, and God is here." 

We have God-like attributes, held in abey- 
ance it may be, never, or seldom, manifest, 
but present all the same in the nature of 
man. God is love, all may be loving; God 
is life, all may live; not sick, nor dying. 
God is truth, all may be just and true. God 
is infinite, all may be free to live up to the 
best of their kind, free from limitations. 

There is nothing created but that which 
God has a use for. Here is our lesson of 
love and charity toward our fellows. God's 
bounty and care are over all, but man is too 
often ignorantly unreceptive. 

God never leaves His creations. We are 
never separate from Him. The idea of a 
being cast off from God is a monstrous lie, 
born of a misconception of the true God and 
the true man. In reverent recognition we 
unhesitatingly say God is no more a neces- 
sity to man than is man a necessity to God. 
We can not conceive of one without the 
other. 

We often hear it said, "That man is an 
atheist; he does not believe in God." He 



20 The Living Truth 

may think he does not believe in God, but 
he has a God of his own, just as large as his 
unfolded consciousness can comprehend. 
His governing intelligence is something just 
as high as he is capable of aspiring to. 
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 
Thou shalt not bow down to any graven 
image." This was the first command which 
came to the illuminated mind of Moses on 
the Mount. It is the first command to the 
illuminated mind, in all ages and conditions. 
There is but the One God. "Graven images" 
are not necessarily made of wood, stone, 
gold, or silver. They are false ideas, or dis- 
torted conceptions of the overruling Power. 
It helps wonderfully to acknowledge God 
"in all thy ways." It will reconcile the 
seeming incongruities of life, to say again 
and again, "God is everywhere; God is 
here." Repeat it over and over again until 
you feel the power of the living words thrill- 
ing you through and through. Then will you 
realize the power of the spoken word of 
truth- 



lessor n 

GOD AND MAN: INTELLIGENCE 

The Ideal and Immortal man become the 
actual and conscious man. 

Ps. VIII, 4-6: "What is man, that 
thou art mindful of him, and the son of 
man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast 
made him a little lower than the angels, and 
hast crowned him with glory and honor. 
Thou madest him to have dominion over the 
works of thy hands !" 

David speaks this of the Spiritual Man, 
the man whom God created. God never 
created any conditions under which man 
fears or suffers. His creations are Spiritual, 
the result of His thought. That which fears 
or suffers is not Spiritual ; it is the product 
of Man's thought, which is the body. 

Make this point clear, for this is the place 
where man's responsibility for all that is 
contrary to God, or Good, begins. Let us 
start right. 

The Hebrew Kabala, that system of Jew- 
ish Theosophy, or God-wisdom, which claims 



22 The Living Truth 

to be handed down by Patriarchs and Proph- 
ets, even from God Himself, says : "Thought 
is the source of all that is." Showing that 
our modern system of thought creation is 
an old, old truth, co-eval with the primitive 
man. 

The Word 

Genesis, I, 1. It is evident the thought 
must pervade the Spoken Word. "And God 
said, Let there be light, and there was light." 
He spoke of light, and light was made mani- 
fest. The Mosaic account of Creation, which 
is the best account of it, does not conflict 
with the best explanations of modern 
science. We find here Intelligence, Wisdom, 
and Order, unexcelled. God's thought was 
Wisdom, and His Word was its orderly ex- 
pression in the manifest universe. There 
was nothing brought forth but that which 
first had idea or form in the Infinite Mind. 

Mind 

Genesis n, 4-5. There is really but one 
mind, which is the God Mind, or the Good 
Mind. Mind is that quality which conceives, 
judges, and reasons. Man being put forth 
from God, is also endowed with mind, or the 



The Living Truth 23 

faculty which conceives, judges, and rea- 
sons. Mind is God-like, pure, and true- 
Idea and Thought 

An Idea is that which is conceived in the 
mind. Thought is the varying expression of 
Ideas. The Idea is generated in the mind, 
and is of the Spirit. 

In the mind is the fulfillment of all we can 
desire. For instance, I feel the need of a 
place to rest. This is the creative Idea, 
which formulates itself in the Idea of a 
couch. 

The active thought takes this Idea, judges 
it, reasons over it, concentrates upon it, and 
evolves the conception of a couch which 
serves the purpose of a place to rest. 

The mind is the storehouse from which 
came the creative Idea, and the Thought is 
the worker, or that which gives expression 
or form in a tangible manner to the Idea. 
The natural world, in harmony always with 
the Idea and Thought, readily yields its 
treasures of iron, wood, wool, and fibres; 
everything needed for the perfect manifesta- 
tion of the Idea. 

What has all this to do with the healing 
of a sick body, or the changing of an un- 
happy environment? Simply this : In the 



24 The Living Truth 

infinite mind is the fulfillment of every de- 
sire for health and peace. 

Our ideas throng in obedience to our 
needs, but these Ideas may be happily ex- 
pressed, or sadly retarded, by the Thoughts, 
which are the workers, the moulders, the 
builders ; or the destroyers, or hinderers. It 
is the Thoughts we think, the words we 
speak, which express our ideals in perfec- 
tion, or imperfection. The active, conscious 
Thought may be spiritual or perfect, ac- 
cording to the divine Idea in man, or it may 
be the contrary. This is the law: "To be 
carnally minded is death, but to be spiritu- 
ally minded is life and peace." (Eomans, 
VIII, 6.) 

The Science of the Mind 

It is to bring the thought up to the high 
ideal, or idea, that we study metaphysics, or 
the science of the mind. The Idea is al- 
ways in advance of its expression. The Idea 
is always perfect. The Thought is varying ; 
rightly trained or used, it is always advanc- 
ing toward perfection. 

Supply and Demand Equal 
Our needs demand the best ; as we obtain 
a desire there is yet a prompting to some- 
thing better, and this demand finds its ful- 



The Living Truth 25 

filment in the universal law of equality, in 
demand and supply. By the unvarying law 
of attraction in proportion as we desire, so 
do we obtain. In the case of the couch, there 
is no lack of constructive material. The 
more thought we give to the construction, 
the more of beauty and utility is developed. 
The idea of a place to rest, grows more beau- 
tiful and more restful in visible and tangible 
expression. 

The Idea is Eternal 

The Idea is Eternal; the couch may be 
defaced, or destroyed, but the improved and 
ever-improving idea remains to produce un- 
limited couches, each better than the last, 
if the thought, the builder, keeps pace with 
the eternal ideal. 

Expression of Ideas 

An Idea unexpressed is good for nothing. 
Only when it is wrought out, in persistant 
thought and the Spoken Word, does it bring 
its fulfilment. Expressed in the line of 
good, it brings good. Wrought out in wrong 
thoughts, it can not fail to bring trouble 
and inharmony. 

Hum^n thought, at best, only approxi- 
mates the divine ideal. The natural man, 
moulded after mortal thought, is but a 



26 The Living Truth 

poorly expressed conception of the real man, 
tlie God-made man. Just as the couch, by 
the application of cultivated thought, un- 
folds into a thing of grace and beauty, so 
the natural man, through the exercise of 
high thinking, becomes God's Man, or the 
Ideal Man, through the regeneration of his 
builder, the human thought. 

Jesus expressed man's possibilities when 
he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as 
your Father in Heaven is perfect." St. 
Paul taught it when he said, "Be ye trans- 
formed through the renewing of your 
mind." "As a man thinketh in his heart, 
so is he." Matt., V, 48. Romans, XII, 2. 
Proverbs, III, 7. "In his heart" means the 
deep thought which engrosses him, that ex- 
pression of the mind he gives himself up to. 
Such thought builds according to its char- 
acter, for good or for evil. 

It is the law that thought is the moulding, 
formative power. As we unfold in this 
course of study we shall find this to be actu- 
ally true, and an unfailing law. It follows 
logically then that a change in our thinking 
will produce a change in our expression. 
Improved ways of thinking work changes 
toward health, happiness, and prosperity. 
This statement is the corner stone of mental 



The Living Truth 27 

healing, a science as exact and scientific as 
the science of mathematics. 

Striving for Better Things 

In our last lesson we spoke of the God 
always with us. No soul so sinful but it 
wants to be better. This is the divine ideal 
striving for better expression. It is rare to 
find any one who is wholly satisfied. To be 
wholly satisfied is not a desirable state. Dis- 
satisfaction, discontent, fault-finding, un- 
rest, are the misdirected expressions of the 
soul striving for better things. 

Gail Hamilton spoke of "a divine restless- 
ness 7 ' different from this misguided expres- 
sion, which was the God within, urging us 
on to perfection. Hence, when we get rest- 
less and dissatisfied, then is the time to cease 
fretting and complaining, giving all our 
thought to the better thing, or the better 
state, which by the law of God, implanted 
in the heart of man, is surely and steadily 
coming to him, in answer to the thought he 
sends out to meet it. Shall it be the good 
thought inviting it, or the doubtful, fearful 
thought, which delays and hampers its com- 
ing? 

Our Sins 

It is the purpose of these lessons to dis- 
cern the better way. It is ignorance which 



28 The Living Truth 

makes us sick, sinful, and dying. Our sins 
are our mistakes in the pursuit of happi- 
ness. Ub one sins except lie feels some 
greater good to him may result thereby. 
One rightly feels that the best life affords 
is by right his own, an inalienable birth- 
right; but there must be a recognition of 
the individual rights of others, to the good 
which God provides for all. God gives to 
each creation all that it needs for its best 
expression. The earth teems with life-giv- 
ing elements, distributed impartially to the 
needs of each and all. Knowing this, we 
may rightfully claim we are not creatures 
of circumstances, but God-like and God- 
born. Within our souls we have all we need, 
but Esau-like we miss the blessing, and go 
into bondage to the world, because of our 
mistakes in the conception of our needs. 

Divine Evolution 

The Scriptures teach emphatically the 
evolution of the human into the Divine. The 
Old Testament is full of this law, particu- 
larly in the Journeyings of Israel toward the 
Promised Land, the book of Job, and the 
Psalms. 

The sensuous conceptions of the Koran, 
the Persian Vedas, and also the doctrines of 



The Living Truth 29 

Confucius teach, it, but the grains of truth 
are smothered in the chaff of Oriental Mys- 
ticism. The higher teachings of Gautama 
Buddha, and the simpler truths of Jesus the 
Christ, fairly blaze with light along the way. 
Read the Light of Asia, by Edwin Arnold. 
Make daily companions of Jesus Christ and 
the Evangels, as aids to right thinking. 

Thoughts Transferred 

Every effort for self -betterment resolves 
finally into mental discipline, the shaping 
of the thought that shapes us. If our 
thought, trained and regulated, will affect 
us for good or ill, is it not fair to suppose it 
will affect others as well? In the very na- 
ture of good one can not be benefitted with- 
out helping another. 

The true test of any good received is the 
desire to impart that good to another. If 
we desire to share the good we receive it 
goes out from us in vibrations, like emana- 
tions of light. Well-regulated thought can 
not be otherwise than a benefit to all who 
come in contact. No one lives to himself 
alone, but to a greater or less degree has an 
influence on those about him. Thought 
transferrence is a natural law always dig- 



30 The Living Truth 

cerned in human intercourse. Thomas a 
Kempis, hundreds of years ago, said, "He 
who would impart peacefulness to others 
must have peace himself/' The Metaphysi- 
cal Healer must heal himself before he is 
fully qualified to heal others. Helpful and 
truthful thought is also reconstructive, and 
that comes only from the heart of the 
healer. 

Mental Healing 

Let us go back to the last lesson and rea- 
son close to principle. Let us try our prac- 
tice by the "line and plummet." Man is 
God-created. God never created that which 
is unlike Himself. He did not create evil, 
sickness, or death. Hence, if these appear, 
they are man-created, and the result of his 
ignorant use of the creative thought 
faculty. There is no ill which flesh 
is heir to, no unhappy condition of 
life but perverted thought action lies 
at the base of it. It is hard for 
the sick one to see this, and it is unwise for 
the healer to discuss this point with the 
patient. With gentleness and tact let us 
try to uncover the underlying mental error, 
and counteract it with the transferance of 
the right thought. Apply it silently until it 
touches and awakens the responsive chords 



The Living Truth 31 

of Spirit which, lie deep in the nature of 
every created thing. Your patient may not 
realize it, but it is none the less true. There 
is mental error, either native or transferred, 
at the bottom of all his trouble. He has 
had wrong conceptions of himself and his 
place in the universe, and on this founda- 
tion has piled up a structure of mistakes 
which are manifest in discordant physical 
activities. Either he suffers from his own 
discords or from the transferred discords of 
another. 

Naturally, man loves the right, instead of 
the wrong. Perfection appeals to human 
nature. If one makes a choice in temporal 
things it will be that which promises the 
most good. Much of what we call natural 
depravity is but an undeveloped sense of 
what is best. 

The real man is not "born in sin, and con- 
ceived in iniquity," even though he may so 
appear to be. Let us then try him by prin- 
ciple and "judge not according to appear- 
ances," but give "righteous judgment." 
Man's sins are but his mistakes in the pur- 
suit of happiness. We talk of hereditary 
sins. Man's heredity is from God, but this 
gift, or inheritance, may be misshaped and 
distorted in expression by the impure, per- 



32 The Living Truth 

verse thoughts of ancestry. It need not be 
held in this distortion. God made him, and 
His work is good. Gk>d endowed him with 
all powers and capabilities, to express him- 
self at the best. 

Refuse to think your patient is in 
bondage to heredity. "He shall know the 
truth, and the truth shall set him free." 
Forgive this sin of heredity, this mistake. 
Release him from the bondage of this mis- 
take by opening up a larger and grander 
state of thinking. "Loose him, and let him 
go." (John, VIII, 32. John XI, 44.) 

What is forgiveness of sins? If one makes 
an error in mathematics it only makes 
things worse to go on with the cal- 
culation. Hence, we erase, blot it out, 
and start aright once more. "I will 
blot out their trangressions and remem- 
ber their sins no more." That is for- 
giveness. If we can not forget, we can 
not forgive. Teach men to forget ; refuse to 
speak of sins and transgressions. This is 
mental science, and true healing. Nature 
soon covers the hardest fought battlefield 
with the greenest verdure. 

"Remember their sins no more." Let us 
realize the full force of this, for it means 
much. If our brother errs and becomes con- 



The Living Truth 33 

scious of his error, let us blot it out and 
remember it no more. If we have trouble 
and affliction through errors, let us blot 
them out and cease to think of them. It only 
keeps trouble alive to nurse it constantly in 
thought and word. 

The Christ law is to forgive, even to sev- 
enty times seven. Only the renewed in 
spirit can comprehend what this means to 
do this hard thing, and it is no wonder to 
such that the disciples prayed, "Lord, in- 
crease our faith," this faith to forgive, or 
blot out, when we reason or judge our 
brother from this basic principle. We are 
not only required to forgive our brother, but 
we are to learn the harder lesson of forgiv- 
ing ourselves. Blot out this dead and gone 
mistake of ours ; remember it no more. This 
is the only healthy, hearty treatment for all 
the inequalities and inharmonies of the 
past. (St Luke, XVII, 34-5.) 

The Real Man 

The real man is the sinless expression of 
God. Sins are generated on the mental or 
soul plan, and the mortal alone suffers. 
Hence, lift first yourself and then your pa- 
tient to an understanding of your true na- 



34 The Living Truth 

ture. Say, "You and I are God's own chil- 
dren; we stand above all this semblance of 
distress, doubt, and weakness, against which 
our souls and bodies rebel." In this thought 
of the God, or Good within us, this distor- 
tion of humanity, which seems to cripple 
and enslave us, rolls away like the shadows 
down the mountain side, before the rising 
sun. We stand erect, noble, God-born, cap- 
able of dominion and power over seeming 
unhappy conditions. God helps us here, 
and tells us, if we ask Him, what and how to 
do. We stand on the mountain top, in the 
full, unclouded presence of Infinite Good- 
ness. In this pure, white light of truth all 
our iniquities of thought and expression are 
blotted out, and all our sins (or mistakes) 
are remembered no more. 

Thomas Taylor, Classical Scholar 

Thomas Taylor, the English Classical 
Scholar, in some of his Greek translations, 
found this expression: "The man that is 
here, and the man which is there." The 
accompanying argument was essentially 
this : That in the universal essence, we pos- 
sess our perfect selves. That when the im- 
perfect man, or "the man who is here," de- 
sires to become the perfect man, or "the man 



The Living Truth 35 

which is there/' he is at once surrounded 
by, and conjoined to him, until he becomes 
what he desires to be. 

Let us note this : "He becomes what he 
desires to be" and no more. He manifests his 
better self, not in proportion to his ability, 
but according to his thought, or desire. 
This philosophy was current among the 
Greeks, at least four hundred years B. C, 
showing conclusively that the science of the 
mind is no modern fad. 

Individual Freedom 

Truth is from the beginning co-eval with 
God, who has in all ages revealed it to the 
enlightened consciousness of His children, 
and they in turn have made it manifest. 

Credit is due to the man and woman of 
all times who have set the world to thinking. 
The doctrine of Spiritual supremacy over 
bodily ills is nothing new. Work it out for 
yourself, always squaring your demonstra- 
tion by the living principle. You and I are 
individuals, not tied to the chariot wheels 
of any human leader. From Emmanuel, or 
God with us, the truth is given in just the 
measure of our needs. This is the law. As 
we grow in knowledge of the truth our 
power unfolds. (Phil., II, 12.) So far we 



36 The Living Truth 

have considered Creation and Intelligence. 
Let us apply what we have already learned, 
that the Ideal and Immortal man may be- 
come the Actual and Conscious man. 

Scripture Readings 
Genesis, I, 4, 5. Matthew, XIX, 17. Acts, 
XVII, 26. Psalms, VIII, 4, 5. John, I, 4. 
Romans, VIII, 5-26. Psalms, CXXXIX, 14. 
John, IV, 16, Corinthians, V, 17. Psalms, 
CXIX, 18. James, I, 17, Ephesians, 
XXIII, 24 



lesson m 

GOD AND MAN: ORDER 

Order implies Government and Obedience. 

"Open thou mine eyes that I may behold 
wondrous things out of Thy Law," (Psalms, 
CXIX, 180 

The wonderful order that pervades crea- 
tion manifests an all-wise God. Everything 
moves according to the law of its kind. 
Each kind is harmoniously related to other 
kinds, and all are included as fitting parts 
of a great harmonious whole. There are no 
mistakes in the Divine Order, no antago- 
nisms. It is God's universe, the expression 
of the One Life, and the One Law. 

It matters not whether the perfected crea- 
tion sprang at once into being, or whether 
through successive ages it slowly unfolded, 
and is still unfolding. The Divine Idea is 
perfect, and to perfection it is surely ad- 
vancing. 



58 The Living Truth 

The deeper we search into the science of 
visible things the more must we be im- 
pressed with a reverent sense of God per- 
vading all things. 

Each creation is, in brief, the best expres- 
sion of itself. The limitations of the visible 
universe are ever receding before the search- 
ing mind of man. We have the right to ask 
an explanation of every phenomenon. Each 
creation stands for something in God's econ- 
omy which we have the right to understand, 
since we, as parts of a Mighty Whole, are 
related to it. Great or small, it has its use 
and place. Therefore, it is right for us to 
challenge and question. The God in us calls 
us to do so. 

With the natural vision we see but a small 
part of the objective universe. Desire to 
know more led to the invention of helps to 
closer investigation. On the one hand, the 
telescope brings distant objects near, and 
opens to our wondering vision a multitude 
of worlds where our unaided sight sees only 
the blue arch deepening into profound dark- 
ness. On the other hand, the microscope re- 
veals minute worlds of life and beauty on 
the things we see, taste, and feel. 

It seems as if the human mind had only 
to desire, and, lo, the Divine Mind, working 



The Living Truth 38 

through human intelligence, responds with 
the means to gratify the demand, and na- 
tural resources, hitherto unrevealed, are 
opened up in a way to challenge our reverent 
admiration. 

The Law 

Scientific research shows an inborn intel- 
ligence in every manifestation of life, which 
keeps it true to the law of its kind. 

There is no break in the chain of being. 
From the lowest form of active life, found 
in the slow-moving slime of the ocean 
depths up to the highest expression of Glo- 
rified Humanity, the Living Christ, the one 
life and the one law unfolds in orderly suc- 
cession. It is the law that the lower should 
lift up to find its full expression in the next 
higher, and by that same law, that which 
the higher receives from the lower, should 
be and is paid for in some helpful act or 
office. Nature pays what she owes, as as 
right and honest 

The mineral kingdom, rich in life-giving 
chemicals, aspires to the vegetable kingdom 
next beyond. God gives it the means to 
aspire in the multitude of seeds committed 
to its care. It takes the seeds, wraps them 
about with the warm soil, gathers in the 
moisture, stores the sunshine until the seeds 



40 The Living Truth 

burst their bonds, push out in tender shoots 
of root and foliage from the enfolding soil, 
to become things of life and beauty in the 
upper air — each kind taking with it the rich 
elements of the mineral matrix suited to its 
peculiar need, and which will give to each 
kind its best expression. Mark this : Each 
only takes from this rich store "Its own" 
At the very start it indicates a lesson of hon- 
esty and unselfishness. 

Next : The vegetable kingdom, manifest- 
ing itself in grasses, shrubs, and trees, yield- 
ing its plentiful harvest of fruit and foliage, 
gives its sustenance and pleasure to the an- 
imal kingdom, just beyond ; while the lower 
orders of the animal kingdom, in food and 
service, minister to man, the highest type. 
Next : Man, true to his higher self, aspires 
to God, the Spiritual Essence of the Mighty 
Whole. The law is always the advance, and 
never retrogression. 

The Recompense 

Now for the recompense. Man tills the 
ground. He brings to light the hidden treas- 
ures of the earth's deep places. Through his 
ever active thought he develops each thing 
to its highest use. The vegetable returns to 
the mineral all that is useless to its future 



The Living Truth 41 

advance (another lesson in honest econ- 
omy) to enrich the mineral wealth of the 
world. For instance, coal, which is, in brief, 
vegetable matter returned to the mineral 
kingdom, is rich in stored sunshine. Here, 
in the hidden laboratories of the earth, it 
is again prepared to minister to human 
needs in light and heat-producing elements. 

The animal kingdom also returns its 
wastes to the vegetable, enriching and mak- 
ing it productive for new vegetation. 

Next : Man, the highest form, aspires to 
Spirit, and Spirit, descending through man, 
and all beneath him, gives abundant life. 
So the circle of existence is complete. Al- 
ways acting, ever renewing, life immortal, 
and unending, the lower putting forth to 
the next higher, and the higher finding its 
ultimate use in the welfare of the lower. 

Mutual Need 

God is no more necessary to His creatures 
than are His creatures necessary to Him. 
This is not an irreverent statement. Man 
is the sum total of all that lies below him, 
and the promise of all that lies beyond him. 
He is the fulfilment of the law. The same 
law which forms the jewels in the mine, 
which holds the stars in their courses, which 



42 Tlie Living Truth 

tinres the ebb and flow of the tides, even the 
law of Spirit, which creates and dominates 
the whole, finds its expression in man, and 
operates to npbnild and uphold him. God 
needs him. His law needs direction, and 
man is the exponent. 

Man's nature is in accord with this : Law 
and order, and not chaos, or destruction. 
Therefore, he does not need to struggle and 
strive to subdue that which seems to be evil. 
Only believe! Make manifest the good, by 
calmly taking hold of the next duty, know- 
ing if one aspires to the good, according to 
the law, the difficulty will regulate itself. 

We shall not get the secret of true living 
until we train the thoughts to conform to 
the law of Spiritual progress. Do they take 
the stately trend toward the next good, or 
do they grovel and retrograde to that which 
lies below? "To the next good" is the men- 
tal science slogan. 

According to this law of advance no one 
should be wholly satisfied. To be dissatis- 
fied is good, if one does not make it an occa- 
sion of discord. It is the law that we should 
watch for the next good, but it is conflict 
with the law to give thought to the next 
evil. Here comes in the Intelligence talked 
of in the last lesson. Let us make no mis- 



The Limng Truth 43 

take in the discernment of Good. Things 
change when rightly interpreted. Wealth, 
power, intellect, are but means to an end; 
means which must be honestly obtained, and 
wisely used toward the desired unfolding 
into true living. Selfishly obtained and self- 
ishly used they will only result in harm. 

Physical Inharmony 

Hahnemann, the founder of the great 
Homeopathic School of Medicine, bases this 
system on his assumption: "Every mani- 
festation of disease is Nature's effort toward 
a cure." Their motto is "SimiMa Similibusi 
Curantjr" or "like cures like. 7 ' For spe- 
cific symptoms he prescribed that remedy 
which would produce the same symptoms 
in a healthy subject. The more violent the 
symptoms the less of the remedy, even to 
the hundredth or thousandth attenuation. 
A disease is a Dis-ease, or lack of ease, an 
unrest, which a beneficent nature makes in 
an effort to readjust. On homeopathic basis 
then call it a good, strive to understand its 
purpose, help it along to its purpose, and 
thus cast it out. 

"Agree with thine adversary quickly." In 
other words, don't get disturbed over it. 



44 The Living Truth 

Such is all our unrest, whether it be in on* 
bodies or in our environments. The perfect 
Spirit of the Good within is working to ad- 
just us to our perfect expression. Cease 
fretting. Look for the next good. Strive 
to see God even in the most unhappy condi- 
tions. 

"Agree with thine adversary quickly, 
whilst thou art in the way with him." What 
is this agreement with the adversary? Is it 
to fall in with it, talking of it, thinking of 
it, abiding with it, in self-pity that we are 
so afflicted? Rather let us meet it with this 
assertion : "What is the lesson I am to learn 
from this experience? I am on my way to 
something better. Lord, teach me how I 
have transgressed in thought. Lead me to 
the next good." In so doing we come to an 
agreement. Then it follows there is no 
longer an impending judgment, no paying 
to the "uttermost farthing." This Adver- 
sary is anything which disturbs us. The 
Judge to whom we are delivered is the Law 
unchanging. The officer is the combination 
of unhappy events which arise to hamper 
and enslave us, and to commit us to re- 
straints which are the "prisons" from which 
we can not emerge until we have paid the 
"uttermost farthing" or the full penalty. 



The Living Truth 45 

Circumstances 

There is a motive in every phenomenon. 
It appears in obedience to the law. There 
is no such thing as chance, or fate, or luck. 
In the common acceptance of the term, noth- 
ing ever happens. The law is unchanging. 
It is God's law, and it is God's expression. 
It operates just as accurately in its penal- 
ties as in its benefits. Here is a point in 
theology. Who punishes? "Thou art of 
purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not 
look on iniquity." Hab., I, 13. God does 
not punish. Punishment comes because we 
array ourselves in opposition to the law, in- 
stead of working with it, and thus get its 
penalties, instead of its benefits. Let us ex- 
amine the phenomenon of physical disease. 
We have proved it is the inharmonious 
thought which has made the inharmonious 
body. As there is a law for every mani- 
festation, so is there a law which produces 
this particular ill. When Mental Science 
comes to be fully understood we shall be 
able to trace a given disease to a given men- 
tal cause, just as directly as we trace a ray 
of light to the central sun. 

Even current events move in obedience to 
the law. "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." If 
we recognize the good, as individuals, or 



46 The Living Truth 

nations, we shall surely reap the good in 
proportion to our recognition. 

" Acknowledge ELLrn in all thy ways, and 
He shall direct thy paths. " How many 
times we look back to some tragic event of 
our lives, only to discern that that which we 
then thought a calamity was but a Divine 
leading to some higher and better thing ; an 
altitude we could not have reached had we 
not endured that specific trial, at that par- 
ticular time. Our thoughts were changed, 
our intelligence was awakened, our souls de- 
veloped. We were made better men and 
women. We see now the God-leading. It 
was our uplift, instead of our downfall. "In 
all thy ways" means the dark ways, as well 
as the light ways. 

Thoughts and ideas must be sharply de- 
fined. An idea is of the mind. Mind is of 
God. Hence, the idea is the God-impulse, 
or the good impulse, prompting to better 
things. Our thoughts are the workers or 
the builders by which these impulses are 
made manifest. We must not let them 
waste or ruin that which would build for 
happiness and prosperity. See that your 
thoughts are trained to the Divine Ideal. 
Then shall we accomplish with no loss of 
time or wasted effort. 



The Living Truth 47 

All thought to the contrary is a hin- 
drance, while mental expression in the line 
of the law leads unerringly to the best in 
the direction of our desires. 

Necessity 

There are arbitrary necessities of life 
which may be more readily ministered to, 
if we observe the law. We must have cloth- 
ing or we shall suffer from exposure; we 
must have food or the body will waste away. 
Food needs, shelter needs, raiment needs, 
are as much under God's care as are spir- 
itual needs. The current of events sets so 
strongly against some unfortunates that 
they seem unable to fulfill their require- 
ments. What is the reason? It is the out- 
raged law of supply and demand. God's 
bounty is for all. Man's selfish view of the 
law is to grasp and get, instead of "Share 
and share alike." The law is to take your 
own and not that which belongs to another. 
Any other interpretion of the law is false, 
and is productive of all the sin and misery 
in the world. 

The great Industrial problems, the wide- 
spread Socialistic agitations of the day, even 
the bloodthirsty Anarchy and the wars, are 
but the fevered manifestations or mistaken 



48 The Living Truth 

ways of man to express God-born impulses 
toward the realization of better tilings. 

The Christ Way 

Men strive, fight, argue, until the world is 
swept with inharmony. What is the rem- 
edy? Not in resistance and strife. No 
greater reformer than Jesus the Christ, no 
grander exponent of Socialism, ever ap- 
peared on the earth. He says, "But I say 
unto you that ye resist not evil." "As ye 
would that others should do unto you, do 
ye even so to them." The natural impulse 
is to resist, to fight. There is surely a more 
excellent way. The time is at hand when 
arbitration will supersede resistance. Arbi- 
tration is thought directed to right ends. 
Turn on the light of truth. Create a mighty 
sentiment which shall touch the God in 
Man. Then shall the voice of the people 
be the voice of God, and there will be noth- 
ing to fight about. This is the domain of 
good, and the right way into it. 

Attraction 

It is an undeviating law of Nature that 
like seeks like. We attract our own. We 
get our own, always. If a handful of dif- 



The Living Truth 49 

ferent seeds were cast upon the fruitful soil 
each seed would take from it just the ele- 
ments needed for its proper development. 
One comes up rich in lime, another in iron, 
phosphate, or soda. One takes on a bitter 
taste, another sweet, salty, or acid taste; 
true to its nature ; each to express its use in 
the divine economy. If a community of 
men were brought to live under the same 
conditions, like would seek like. A com- 
munity of interests might mark the outward 
man, but in a mental and moral sense they 
would separate into groups of similar 
thought. Such is the history of all religions, 
of all social and political classifications. 
Following this law into the domain of our 
personal needs and surroundings, it still 
holds good. This is the fixed Principle by 
which the whole universe coheres. We get 
that which we think the most about. This 
teaches us to be watchful of our thoughts 
that they do not bring us undesirable things. 
All that we need for our best expression is 
ours. God has given it to us. "Seek ye first 
the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, 
and all these things shall be added onto 
you." The thing we need exists as a part 
of us, and not far away. Affirm, "I am a 
part of that which I desire, by an unfailing 



50 The Living Truth 

law it gravitates toward me. I will fulfill 
the condition through which it comes to me. 
I am receptive, not doubting, nor unrestful." 
The seeds which fell from the hand of the 
sower, in the parable of Jesus, were equally 
fruitful. Some fell on stony places (hard, 
unreceptive natures) where they were 
scorched. Some fell among thorns ( critical, 
unkind thoughts), and were choked. Some 
fell by the wayside (heedlessly) and the 
fowls of the air ( trivial thoughts ) devoured 
them. Some fell upon good ground (sin- 
cere, receptive thoughts) and bore fruit a 
hundred fold. 

S elf -preparation 

If we are to get returns for our desires, 
we must prepare ourselves to receive by 
weeding out everything which would hinder 
the full enjoyment of the thing desired. 
What is this thing I ask for? What will it 
profit me? What is my capacity to put it 
to its best uses? Am I fitted to receive it? 
If not, what can I do? 

The Book of Books gives an answer: 
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse 
(that is, the best of yourself) that there 
may be meat in my house, and prove Me 
now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I 
will not open the windows of Heaven, and 



The Living Truth 51 

pour ont such a blessing that there shall 
not be room to receive it." 

Make God a living factor in your daily- 
life. This implies that we think the good, 
speak the good, and do the good, on every 
possible occasion. That we guard ourselves 
also from any thought or act of another, 
which is counter to the good. The prayer 
of Jesus for His disciples was this : "I pray 
not that thou shouldest take them out of 
the world, but that thou shouldest keep from 
the evil." Necessarily, we are brought into 
contact with much that is evil or unde- 
sirable. Exercise the Principal, and over- 
come. A knowledge of the law leads us to 
understand how many of our failures are 
due to a misdirected energy which wastes 
and worries us. This waste and worry, 
righty interpreted, are like the symptoms of 
disease. Nature's efforts to keep us in the 
right way. "If any of you lack wisdom, let 
him ask of God that giveth to all men liber- 
ally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be 
given him." A further condition is that we 
are to "ask in faith, nothing wavering; for 
he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, 
driven with the wind and tossed. For let 
not that man think he shall receive anything 
of the Lord. A double-minded man is un- 



52 The Living Truth 

stable in all his ways." (James I, 5-8.) 

The law is, " Advance." There is always 
good ahead. When we have reached the 
point to which we aspire we shall find it an 
outlook to something greater and grander 
ahead. There is no weariness in this ad- 
vance, no struggle to attain. Just the tran- 
quil development which comes from always 
being at one's best. 

"I came that ye might have life, and have 
it more abundantly"; knowing which, we 
can realize the Life Eternal, which is now 
and here. We have the promise that even 
the last enemy, Death, shall be overcome. 
This is the ultimate of a well-ordered exper- 
ience. The order is progression, the law is 
Love, 



LESSON IV 
POWER: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER 

"A wise man is strong. Yea, a man of 
knowledge increaseth strength/' Prov. 
XXIV, 5. 

In the nature of things Power is inborn. 
The creation of any object involves a mani- 
fest purpose, and the ability to fulfill its 
purpose in and of itself. We naturally ask 
of any new thing, ''What is it made for, and 
how does it operate"? All of which ques- 
tioning is a tacit recognition of its ability 
and utility. Power is a latent force to be 
brought out and applied. There is but one 
power in the universe, the God-power, or 
the good-power. Power, therefore, being of 
God, and like Him, is always to be depended 
upon, infinite, unswerving, and unchang- 
ing. 

There is one power, just as there is one 
light, one atmosphere, each put forth from 
the one source of being. But the manifesta- 



54 The Living Truth 

tions of power are as many and as varied 
as there are objects in the universe. 

Thus far in our lessons we have consid- 
ered : 1st, Creation, or a putting forth from 
God. 2d, Intelligence, or that which dis- 
cerns the purpose for which it was made. 
3d, Order, or the law which keeps it true 
to the purpose for which it was made, and 
now we come to the next natural need, the 
Power, or that which makes possible all that 
God-wisdom process for it, as a part in the 
active, vital Whole. God gives the power, 
but man gives it direction through the 
thought forces which are the makers and 
builders. Shall we direct this God-force to 
its best expression, or shall we misdirect 
and waste these forces by which we live? 
Knowledge is power, and it is by the know- 
ing of what we say and what our environ- 
ments mean that we are to direct this 
power. We came out from God (Creation) . 
We are assigned to our places in the divine 
harmony (Intelligence). We are fitly 
equipped for our purpose in life (Order). 
And, in a logical sense, if in no other, we 
are endowed with power to manifest our- 
selves at our best. Let us be surely estab- 
lished in this fact. Know it. Then may we 
develop readily in obedience to the law. To 



The Living Truth 55 

do this demands that we recognize our God- 
born selves, and appreciate the good there 
is in us, and round about us. The man of 
power appreciates himself, and lives up to 
his best. Know this, and when tempted to 
doubt, affirm, "I am one with Infinite life, 
intelligence, order and power. I am created 
for a purpose in God's own plan, I am Ac- 
tivity, Wisdom, Strength, not irresolute, ig- 
norant, or weak. I am victorious over 
every difficulty." 

Human power lies in mental supremacy 
rather than in brute strength. If this were 
not so man would indeed present a sorry 
spectacle. His horse is superior in muscu- 
lar strength, his dog is keener in the sense 
of smell, the little ant outranks him in in- 
stinct, the bee is the better builder, the 
spider the more accurate geometrician. 
The elements might freeze, burn, or drown 
him, yet over all these he has dominion and 
power, through the exercise of mental and 
spiritual knowledge. 

When we take the ground that everything 
and everybody is in its last analysis, God- 
created and spiritual, we have planted our 
feet on the bedrock Principle which har- 
monizes the world. There is but one power, 
the God-power, or the good-power. What- 



56 The Living Truth 

ever comes to us not in accord with the good 
is powerless in itself, and is always subject 
to the good. 

The evils of life are man-made conditions 
to be overcome. Yet they are the lawful 
manifestations of false thoughts, and false 
words. We say lawful, because it is the law 
that word and thought will invariably man- 
ifest in conditions according to their kind. 
Now we can see why knowledge is power, a 
productive force derived from right think- 
ing and right speaking. We also see that 
the law works as positively in its penalties 
as in its benefits. "My words are spirit, 
and they are life," said Jesus, meaning by 
this they are creative and life-giving. 

Organisms are not life, but the expres- 
sions of life. / am in my body, which is not 
me, but my expression. God works in me. 
I have nothing to do but to express the life- 
giving impulse. Only to let it work un- 
trammeled by any fears or doubts. To 
know and practice this, means life eternal. 
This explains the Christ's words: "I am 
come that ye might have life, and have it 
more abundantly." "To know God is life 
. eternal." Christ within us is the inward 
impulse to health and cure. Knowing, not 
intellectually apprehending, this, and hav- 



The Living Truth 57 

ing faith because I know I need not be sick, 
I need not be poor, I need not be sinful, nor 
unhappy. These false conditions are but 
expressions of abnormal thoughts and words 
which I, as an expression of the Infinite 
Life, have no right to entertain. These have 
no power "to whom ye yield yourselves serv- 
ants to obey, his servants ye are to whom 
ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of 
obedience unto righteousness." To know 
then that God is our life, that He carries on 
the secret processes of our physical exist- 
ence, that he pervades all the universe, gives 
no place whatever for these falsities. One 
sees at once the supremacy of truth. "Ye 
shall know the truth and the truth shall 
make you free." 

Our failure to demonstrate any scientific 
principle does not impair its truth. How 
often we are brought in contact with some 
fatal disease, and are tempted to declare the 
whole science of mental healing unreliable; 
when the truth is, we, the patient, and the 
people round about are not large enough to 
discern the spiritual truth. Jesus and His 
apostles raised the dead to life, they healed 
seemingly incurable diseases instantly ; they 
made the lame to walk, the blind to see, the 
deaf to hear, and made no failures. 



58 The Living Truth 

How often we impotently pray for the 
Christ-power, unmindful of the truth of an 
ever-present God within, animating every 
cell of the body, and Who would work 
through us if we would let Him. Jesus knew 
this ever-dwelling consciousness of the 
Father. 

We have ever this indwelling Christ, and 
His assurance that "The kingdom of God is 
within us." Knowledge, absolute knowl- 
edge, is the measure of our power. Know- 
ing, we should speak as one having author- 
ity and not in the halting, doubting speech 
which leads to failure. The positive recog- 
nition of the Christ within is the power 
against which the gates of hell shall not 
prevaiL 

Let us then train our erratic thought to a 
full recognition of the God within. Let the 
conscious spirit in me speak to the spirit 
in you; let our spirit words, instinct with 
God-power, fall into contact with, what to 
us is this manifestation of inharmony. God 
in me, who is Love and Power, speaks to the 
God in you, waking the God-like reply. 

Let us recognize the dynamic force of the 
thoughts. What have we to contend with? 
Thought is vibratory force, as much as elec- 
tricity is vibratory force. In fact, it is the 



The Living Truth 59 

greater force, since the mind of man is 
bringing out this electrical force to larger 
uses, and adapting it to the commonest 
needs of daily life. 

It has been our custom to speak of the 
material universe as "first." We speak of 
the solid earth, the solid rocks, the everlast- 
ing hills, but science is revealing material 
things, and all forms, as orderly rates of 
vibration. If we place grains of sand on a 
smooth, hard surface and subject it to 
vibratory force the sand will arrange itself 
in undulatory lines or specific shapes, ac- 
cording to the rate of vibration. If there 
are imperceptible globules of moisture on 
the window pane, the vibrations of the cold 
air outside will arrange them into shapes 
according to the intensity of the cold, the 
wonderful frost shapes rivaling the artist's 
pencil, in fern-like frond, star, and crys- 
tal. The snowflake, which is perfectly 
geometrical in its star-like beauty, is but 
a drop of water subject to the vibra- 
but a drop of water subject to the vibra- 
tions of the frosty air. It has been demon- 
strated that sound vibrations shape the 
plastic material about us. A Mrs. Hughes 
of London entertained scientific circles not 



60 The Living Truth 

long ago with, her remarkable experiments 
in voice figures. 

A simple instrument, consisting of a re- 
ceiver and a flexible membrane, upon which 
were scattered some Lycopodium Seed and 
tiny dust particles, was her only aid. She 
sang into the instrument, and the tiny par- 
ticles assumed definite shapes, such as 
spirals, stars, and wheels. On one occasion 
a perfect daisy appeared. For weeks she 
strove to reproduce it, and finally succeeded 
in producing just the precise inflection of 
the note which produced it, and was able to 
form daisies at will. 

Vibrations, as related to sound, unfolds 
an interesting line of research, which may 
reveal the direct cause of many abnormal 
physical formations. The disintegrating 
power of a rhythmic vibration is well illus- 
trated in the passing of numbers over a 
bridge. Military commands are to "Break 
step" lest the rhythmic sway of the regular 
step break down the bridge. 

It is scientifically true that our thoughts 
go out in vibratory force. Just as there are 
sound waves, light waves, or heat waves, so 
there are thought waves. The higher vibra- 
tions of soul force, manifested in concen- 
trated thought, will change form and 



The Living Truth 61 

structure, will dissolve hard formations; 
just as the cold or heat vibrations will 
change the drop of water to ice or steam. 
There is no seemingly solid element in the 
human body, but is amenable to this change, 
even the densest structure, the periosteum, 
or bone covering, is permeable. 

The most powerful forces are light and 
heat vibrations, their correspondences in the 
spiritual realm are Intelligence and Love, 
which practically means the knowing and 
the doing. 

In recognition of this lies man's power. 
This brings fearlessness and freedom. We 
do not have to beseech and pray to a higher 
Power afar off to give us efficiency. We are 
already equipped with all the power we can 
use, and every aid we need is fully given in 
the natural use of the things at hand. "All 
things are possible to them that believe." 
"Commit thy works unto the Lord (that is, 
the operative force of God's Law) and thy 
thoughts shall be established." The great 
forces of nature are the silent forces. We 
are not to struggle for power. It is ours 
already. The only striving is for self -con- 
quest, that we may bring our untrained 
minds into recognition of our birthright, as 
children of the Omnipotent God. And we 



62 The Living Truth 

must never feel driven to anything. This 
puts us in bondage. Power does not lie in 
the enforced will, but in an intelligent com- 
prehension of our fitness. Helen Van Ander- 
son gives this affirmation: "God works in 
me to will and to do all that is necessary for 
me to do." Is it necesswry for my well- 
being or that of another that I should do 
the things presented? If so, then I have 
the power, the way of accomplishment will 
unfold. This makes us watchful of oppor- 
tunities, and keenly alive to the ordinary 
happenings. Many an opportunity for bet- 
terment offers, which we, through ignorance, 
or indifference, let pass. We see its value 
only when another takes it profitably from 
us. 

"I have the power to accomplish within 
myself. God aids me to express myself at 
my best. I am at one with God and His 
Law. Nurturing my lower qualities I come 
in conflict with the law, and suffer thereby." 
Will-power is exhaustive. Understanding is 
helpful and recreative. Will-power, as con- 
trasted with understanding, is like the 
foamy rush of troubled waters, compared to 
the silent, even, and irresistible flow of the 
mighty river. Will-power is aggressive. 
It is the burlipg of one's self against a cii|s 



The Living Truth G3 

rent of circumstances and environment. 
Understanding takes one aloft, to a level 
above contention and strife, into the higher 
atmosphere of steadfast freedom. I never 
need force myself. Let me take up each 
duty knowing I have the power to fulfill. I 
am only to do the best I know for the pres- 
ent moment, understanding that the best 
method of successful performance will plac- 
idly unfold as the work goes on. I can not 
fail. I am capable of my best expression. 

A knowledge of this bit of Mental Science 
goes far in the demonstration over physical 
weakness and bodily decay. "They that wait 
upon the Lord shall renew their strength, 
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; 
they shall run and not be weary, they shall 
walk and not faint." 

Power is developed by concentration. 
There is no royal road to the development 
of power. It is not what another helps us 
to do that give true power, it is the individ- 
ual effort or exercise that makes us truly 
strong. When we want a thing, or to do a 
thing, it is no effort to concentrate. 

The point of power is The Silence reached 
in that wonderful repose, where the thought 
is held in abeyance, and the mind energy is 
directed along the line of action where we 



64 The Living Truth 

can scarcely think at all. Once having felt 
this wonderful thrill of spiritual exultation 
one can never forget its power. We know 
then what it can do for us. It is then that 
the thought goes out in waves, sweeping all 
before it. Its mission is to readjust and 
renew all that is abnormal and unhealthy. 
If it is unhappy environment, or disagree- 
able conditions, it places us in such relations 
to them that they are powerless to harm. It 
is the soul victory, which comes through a 
new consciousness of powers we hitherto 
had not known. Here is absolute calm. We 
think only good thoughts, have only visions 
of good things. Here we are willing to leave 
all to the undeviating law of spirit. 

"Cast thy burden on the Lord ( Law) , and 
He shall sustain thee !" "Commit thy way 
unto Him, and He shall bring it to pass." 
This is no lazy shifting of responsibility on 
the Almighty, but a calm and tranquil as- 
sumption of our duty, sure of Divine help 
and guidance. Concentrated thought is al- 
ways calm. A resolute calmness under 
difficulties is always power. 

Go into the sickroom with a calmness 
born of conscious nearness to the Divine, 
and you can not help doing good. With a 



The Living Truth 65 

right understanding of the direction of your 
forces your place is as helpful and as legit- 
imate as that of any physician with a uni- 
versity diploma. Do not assure what you 
do not know, but dignify your honest effect 
as it deserves. 

To control the thought, and to send its 
forces to the side of unchanging good, is 
power. 

It gives such a sense of dominion to feel 
that all things are true to an Infinite plan ; 
a plan which includes life, health, and hap- 
piness, instead of the poor apologies for the 
same, with which the Metaphysician so often 
comes in contact. 



LESSON V 
THE HEALING POWER: PHYSICAL HEALTH 

If we have faithfully studied the preced- 
ing lessons, we are now prepared to make 
a fundamental statement: "Life is deeper 
than the outward manifestation." It is not 
the organism which sustains and maintains 
the life process. What matters it then if 
the leg is lame, or the heart weak, or any 
organic function disturbed? Even though 
Medical Science has passed the fatal ver- 
dict we know that Spirit, underlying every 
manifestation, is ever present to create 
anew. It does create anew. Proven in 
thousands of cases beyond a doubt. 

Mental Science, as a means of healing, is 
no longer an experiment, but an established 
fact. No school of medicine exceeds its 
cures, no system of philosophy discredits its 
wisdom. It invites the broadest investiga- 
tion of every phenomenon ; it points the true 
way out of all sickness, sin, and death, not 



68 The Living Truth 

by an illogical denial, but by a knowledge of 
the truth. "Ye shall know the truth, and 
the truth shall make you free," All the ab- 
normal conditions do exist on the mortal 
plane, but only as stages of growth. "I am 
come that ye might have life and have it 
more abundantly." If we have learned our 
lessons thus far as we should we are pre- 
pared to say with confidence, "nothing 
exists for us except through our recognition 
of it." Hence, as we no longer see disease 
and discomfort as the necessary factors in 
human experience, we are no longer in 
bondage to them. Our part in life is to 
manifest God, or Good. When we know our 
place in the perfect plan, when we under- 
stand the construction of these physical 
temples in which we dwell, when we under- 
stand the constructive or the destructive 
power of the active, conscious thought, then 
do we hold the key to life eternal, as well 
as here and now. This is the ground where 
you may have oft-repeated argument with 
the patient. Are you so well-grounded in 
the truth that you can deal wisely and well 
with the impaired organism before you? 
Let us explain : 

What is the source of Life and Power? 

How is it evolved? 



The Living Truth 69 

What is the reconstructive force, and how 
applied? 

Where is this pain and weakness? 

Why did these particular organs manifest 
inharmony? 

What is your mental remedy? 

These questions are more fully answered, 
especially the last two, in the advanced 
course, The Physical Body, and its Relation 
to the Mind. But through the instruction 
already given it is easy to give a mental 
treatment. The advanced course more 
clearly designates the special treatment for 
given diseases. Go over the ground 
patiently, Body, Soul, and Spirit, until the 
truth dawns on each particular aspect. 
Heart and Soul aglow with Divine Truth 
get into that place where you, your patient, 
and GOD are all alone. Hold steadfastly 
there, in that pure Presence, until all ab- 
normal conditions are shut out from your 
consciousness, and the whole reconstructed 
body stands pure and healthy before your 
mental vision. Hold steadily there, refus- 
ing to recognize anything but health and 
peace. Be positive! Think only of that 
which God has abundantly given you for 
your best expression. 



70 The Living Truth 

Affirmation is the strongest denial. Af- 
firm the good and there will be no chance 
to consider the evil. Let your patient tell 
the whole story of the malady as it appears 
to him. What he thinks is as important to 
you, as the opinions of the doctors. Give 
helpful, not pitiful, sympathy. Tell as much 
by tactful questioning, or by encouraging 
information, as will explain your under- 
standing of the case. Do not make an effort 
to win his confidence. Be yourself, and true 
to your own convictions. His confidence is 
his own subservient to nobody's opinion. 
The Mental Healer has often been charged 
with Hypnotism, which is malicious, and 
untrue. Never coerce the thought of an- 
other. Simply show the more excellent way 
of thinking and acting. 

It is never wise to antagonize a patient. 
Far better say nothing. Let the higher 
thought vibrations fill your own soul. Then 
will they flow out to his life centers like 
vital currents from a battery, until both are 
filled. Then will the nerve-centers respond 
in full and free vitality. Medical Science 
has given the disease a name and such a 
symptomistic classification as will make it 
intelligible to the studied practitioner. 



The Living Truth 71 

Sometimes this frightens the patient, and 
added suffering is the result of the fear. 

Christened with a many-syllabled name, 
and prescribed for in unintelligible Latin, 
sometimes makes a mountain out of a mole- 
hill. 

The Metaphysician, who knows the pa- 
tient as body and soul, may safely place 
reliance upon the natural healing power of 
Nature, directed by the intuitive perception. 

Material medicines are always experi- 
mental. That which helps one often fails 
with the other, because of the tempera- 
mental differences. Again, the so-called 
specifies of one generation are ruthlessly set 
aside by the discoveries of the next. Each 
era of medical practice has its fads. 

The Metaphysician is seldom equipped 
with the technique of the medical schools. 
Still, as the real doctor is not alone the 
polished output of the university, but funda- 
mentally endowed by Dame Nature, the hon- 
est mental healer may win an honorable title 
to public respect. Stand your ground ! 

We study the human body as a unit. With 
us there is no complication of diseases, as 
entanglements to be adjusted. The mental 
cause, which lies deeper than the physical 



72 The Lwing Truth 

manifestation, is our point of attack. To 
uncover the disturbing thought often re- 
quires both tact and skill. We find the force 
of the Master's Words : "A new command- 
ment give I unto you, that ye love one an- 
other." 

Through an understanding of Truth it is 
ours to know how to calm the destructive 
fears and anxieties, to sweep away false 
ideas of self, and to use with understanding 
the silent thought-forces which renew and 
reconstruct. We speak to the God-born, 
healthy creature who stands behind this ap- 
pearance of disease. We break the chains 
of this mortal belief. We speak to the souls 
in prison, we let the oppressed go free. 

This is no mere sound of words, but the 
active, living Principle, which our faithful- 
ness to the Truth will render wonderfully 
effective. 

Power 

You have all the power you can use, but 
only an understanding of Truth makes it 
available. In the Christ with us is the true 
light which 'lighteth every man that cometh 
into the world." 

In this light we have always our full meas- 
ure of knowledge and power. We may get 



The Living Truth 73 

in-for-mation, or that which, formulates the 
idea from others, but until the Natural In- 
telligence answers with its flash of light we 
are still in the dark. St. John says, "If 
the anointing ye have received from Him 
abideth with you, ye need not that any 
man should teach you/' which means, if 
we live in the truth, speak the truth, think 
the truth, the inward Wisdom will surely 
respond. Again he says, "Ye have an unc- 
tion from the Holy One, and ye know" Not, 
ye shall know sometime, but ye know now. 

Hence, in any time of doubt ye may truth- 
fully say: "I know the right way, I have 
the God-wisdom right with me now. Let 
me think according to principle, and God 
will certainly show me the way." The true 
Metaphysician lives the truth day by day. 

To live the truth is to make it so vital 
that we can not live without it. There is 
no other way to get the needed direction in 
time of trouble. We have each, doubtless, 
had some experience with that intuitive 
flash of intelligent action which comes in 
time of danger. We say, "I do not know 
why I did it, but it was just the thing to 
do." This experience is no mere happen- 
ing. It is the outward manifestation of in- 
ward wisdom. 



74 The Living Truth 

Sincerity 

We must be honest and earnest, diligent 
in our business, and staunch, to our under- 
standing of truth. This not only gives us a 
needed dignity among our fellows, but it 
helps us to avoid insincerity in word and 
deed. It is far easier to deceive others than 
to deceive ourselves. Mental science brings 
us often to our own judgment seat, where 
we pay our penalties in hard experience. 

It pays to watch for the little helps by 
the way which are so often unheeded. With 
our awakened perceptions we are often sur- 
prised at the inspiration we receive from 
the little things close at hand. The still, 
small voice of ordinary events, the timely 
word from an unexpected source, the in- 
sistent under-current of our own thoughts 
are each and all indices of the great law by 
which "All things work together for good/' 
to those that love the good. 

Consecrated to a pure purpose our every 
experience is helpful. We do not need to 
struggle to get into our right place. We 
are in the right place now. Just be ready 
to do the next good thing. If it be the hard 
place, when we have filled it as we should, 
we shall be taken out of it, into the larger 
and better field of action. Acknowledge, 



The Living Truth 75 

thankfully, the little helps. Do not mourn 
the loss of place or opportunity, which may 
seem wrested from you by cruel fate. Cling 
all the closer to Principles, and know that 
God wants you in the best place you are 
capable of filling. 

As a result of our study we grow indiffer- 
ent to many things we once thought neces- 
sary to our happiness. Little annoyances 
no longer held us in bondage. We grow very 
indifferent to the little frets of life. 
Through spiritual understanding we are 
lifted into that higher atmosphere where 
such trifles do not come. This getting into 
the higher place does not mean the neglect of 
the smallest duty, for this would not be 
right. We feel rather a finer perception of 
duty, and are the more careful to fulfill our 
obligations. 

Again : We have no false ideas of labor 
or self-sacrifice. We do things not because 
they are expedient, but because they are 
right. We discern the best methods of doing 
things, and thus avoid a waste of energy. 
We now know it is because of wasted, ig- 
norantly wasted, constructive energy that 
we grow old and pass away. "Because he 
hath known my name he shall call upon me, 
and I will answer him; I will be with him 



t6 The Living Truth 

in trouble, I will deliver Mm and honor him. 
With long life will I satisfy him, and show 
him my salvation," was spoken only to 
those who have set their love on the good. 
From this high standpoint we shall regard 
things "by and large," as the seamen say. 
Evil will be lost sight of in the larger good 
which is ours. It will become a thing we 
can best deal with by letting it alone. By 
refusing to consider evils we cut the cords 
which bind us to them, and are set free to 
follow goodness and truth. Remember al- 
ways that which we do not recognize, we do 
not have. This is Power. This dual life of 
what seems to be, and what we desire to 
be, becomes as one. We are able to work 
peacefully out of hard places. Our watch- 
word is: "Advance to the next good." 
Forgetting the things that are behind, and 
reaching forth unto the things that are be- 
fore. I press forward to the mark of the 
high calling in Christ Jesus. We know 
there is no such thing as luck or chance, 
only Law. Work with the Law. Work with 
the Law, and not against it. Herein is 
power manifest in a hundredfold return in 
Health and Happiness, 



LESSON VI 

USE 

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty where- 
with Christ hath made us free and be not 
entangled again with the yoke of bondage." 
Gal., V, 1. 

Our full development into the freedom of 
the sons of God depends upon the use we 
make of our understanding. In the line of 
the Law there is a perpetual unfolding, 
something good to learn throughout 
Eternity. 

In the order of our study we have ac- 
quired a fair conception of the fundamental 
facts of existence. Creation, Intelligence, 
Order, Power, and now we come to Use, as 
the practical embodiment of our newly de- 
veloped understanding. 

We know that we exist, or stand out from 
God, and to be God-like or good is our 
birthright, not a something to be learned 
or imparted to us. We are endowed with In- 
telligence to express our purpose in the Di- 
vine Plan. We know our relationship with 



78 The Living Truth 

every other manif estation of created Energy 
is of an orderly, lawful nature and there 
need be no clashing of interests in the divine 
order. 

We know we are, by right of our God- 
born heritage, endowed with all we need for 
our best expression as sons of God. All we 
have to do is to live in harmony with the 
God Law. 

Our lessons are now narrowed down to 
personal application. The question to con- 
sider closely is, "What is my part in the 
Divine Economy, and how may I best per- 
form it?" Emerson says, "There is a guid- 
ance for each one of us, and by lowly listen- 
ing we shall hear the right words." 

There are no wastes or burdens in the 
right use of our faculties. Hence, as an 
economic factor in the expenditure of our 
life forces, we should understand clearly 
what the right use means. And here comes 
in that lowly listening of which Emerson 
speaks. In our last lesson we spoke the 
Christ indwelling wherein "were hid all the 
treasures of wisdom and knowledge." This 
is the Monitor to Whom we are to incline 
the listening war. 

It is not always pleasant to take a retro- 
spective view over the life path we have 



The Lwiny Truth 79 

trodden. It is marked and marred too many 
times by the mistakes which have only 
brought us pain and sorrow. Our forward 
path is henceforth to be bright with our 
newly acquired understanding of truth. We 
know, indeed, that straight is the gate and 
narrow the way that leadeth unto life. It 
is hedged on either side by undeviating prin- 
ciples, but "its ways are ways of pleasant- 
ness and all its paths are peace." 

It is a mental conquest we are from 
henceforth to achieve. Happiness, health, 
and prosperity are all included in the power 
and capability of a well-ordered mind. 
Think rightly and all things will work to- 
gether for good. 

Take time for mental cultivation. It is 
one's privilege to often be alone, in the si- 
lence, with God. The strength we need to 
meet the duties of the day is surely to be 
gained when we wait in expectant silence 
for the direction of the inner voice; or as 
Geo. Fox, the Quaker, called it: "The In- 
ward Light." Here, again, is Emerson's 
lowly listening, and it is what Jesus meant 
when He said, "When thou prayest, enter 
into thy closet (the secret place) and when 
thou hast shut the door (that is, when all 
intruding things have been shut out) pray 



80 The Living Truth 

to thy Father, which is in secret (the God 
within), and the Father which seeth in se- 
cret shall reward thee openly." This means 
that the teaching of the silence shall be 
made practical in better modes of living. 
It is not always easy to get into the silence. 
To banish confusion of thought take, 
and hold, some strong statement. "Be 
still and know that I am God." "The Lord 
is in His Holy Temple. Let all the earth 
keep silence before Him." "Peace, be stilL" 
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give 
unto you, not as the world giveth, give I 
unto you." 

Wait here until the senses are subordinate 
to a sense of waiting. Until it seems as if 
you were alone in the desert at midnight, 
with only the silent wastes of sand beneath 
your fed: and the starless sky overhead. 
Nothing but yourself and God. After a time 
it will seem as if the stillness was alive with 
soundless vibrations of the Spirit. Father 
Ryan, a Southern Priest, wrote a beautiful 
poem. 

The Valley of Silence 

I walk down the Valley of Silence, 

The dim, distant valley alone, 
And I heed not the sound of a foot step 

Around me, save God and my own, 



The Living Truth 81 

And the hush of my heart is as holy 
As ever the angels have known. 

In the heart of the Valley of Silence 
I dream all the songs that I sing, 

And the music floats down the dim valley 
Till each thought finds a word for a wing, 

That to man, like the dove of the Deluge, 

A message of peace it may bring. 
Far out on the deep there are billows 

That never shall break on the beach. 
And I have had thoughts in the silence 

That never shall float into speech. 
And I have had dreams in the silence 

Too lofty for language to reach. 

Hold yourself profoundly in the silence 
and ask what you most desire. The answer 
may not be immediate. You may fall asleep. 
But never mind, try again. Refuse to be 
disturbed. Say to these wayward thoughts, 
"Go thy way, and when I have a more con- 
venient season I will call on thee." 

Then will the perplexities resolve them- 
selves into calmness. Then will the clear 
thoughts from the higher plane come in. 
Then will just the word you are waiting to 
hear come to give the necessary direction, 
the word it is safe to follow. 



82 The Living Truth 

"Acknowledge me in all thy ways, and I 
will direct thy paths." Prov., Ill, 6. 

The answer will surely come. Sometimes 
it comes with the first waking thoughts of 
the early morning. Sometimes in the hurry 
and rush of the day's work. Sometimes in 
the still, small voice which interweaves it- 
self through our varying thought like the 
thread of a song. You will know it to be the 
inward truth, for it will be sharply defined 
from ordinary thinking. 

This is more than common perception. 
"Out of the depths have I called to thee and 
thou hast heard my voice." These inward 
promptings are not to be discarded. Jesus 
Christ referred to this when He said to cred- 
ulous people: "Ye discern the face of the 
sky and of the earth, but how is it that ye 
do not discern this time? Yea, and why 
even of yourselves judge ye not what is 
right?" Luke, XXII, 56-57. There are 
those so in harmony with this inward teach- 
ing that they direct successfully the sim- 
plest affairs of life by its dictation. 

By cultivating our highest impulses we 
shall find out just what we are good for and 
along what lines we may be the most suc- 
cessfully employed. We shall prove the 
truth of our basic statement. 



The Living Truth 83 

"We are put here for our specific purpose 
in the Divine Plan. 

"We are fully equipped for our own par- 
ticular duties, 

1 We are given the requisite wisdom to dis- 
cern the best way to perform successfully 
all that is required of us." 

It is human to plan, to question, to doubt. 
It is divine to look up, to believe, to trust. 
By this aspiration, belief and trust, we, 
come into right relation to the "Soul of 
things," as Prof. Denton called it. This 
"Soul of things" answers to the call of our 
own souls, responding in the fulfillment of 
desire. 

"Before they call I will answer : and while 
they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isa., 
LXV, 24. 

The highest evidence of spiritual advance- 
ment is the change in our desires. We rise 
above so much that once was, or seemed to 
be, necessary to our happiness. In the 
clearer light of the New Thought they seem 
like the veriest trifles, too small to waste 
thought upon. 

We see the world with broader vision. 
This boundless universe of which this vast 
earth is so small a part; this great multi- 
tude of humanity to which I am related; 



84 The Living Truth 

this law of harmony which orders the 
mighty whole ; myself a constant revealing ; 
God over all, and in all; I belong to them 
and they to me. All that I need is mine and 
close at hand. "Seek, and ye shall find/' 
It is mine to claim and use, but not if I 
agree to its opposite. 

"Son thou are ever with me and all that I 
have is thine." 

Not by a jealous comparison with some 
one seemingly more fortunate than ourselves 
are we to recognize our own, for in that way 
we are acknowledging a lack. Rather let us 
affirm : "I am of God, I have enough." "I 
am satisfied with the bounty of my God." 
"Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's 
good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 

By affirmation and acknowledgment we 
come into relation with the real quality of 
the thing we desire, just as surely as the 
needle of the compass is drawn to the un- 
seen attractive force beneath the Polar Star. 
Everything in natural form or entity 
exists first in the spiritual form or the idea, 
and also in the human mental concept be- 
fore it is wrought out in the material. 
Hence, the truly successful one in any line 
is the one who gets closest to the spiritual 
concept by the clear, steady thought. 



The Living Truth 85 

We have learned the law that the natural 
takes on the quality of the thing which at- 
tracts it. If we believe in old age and de- 
crepitude, then shall we attract and possess 
all that tends to materialize the condition. 
Little ills creep in upon us and we unthink- 
ingly let them come. Little cares accumu- 
late, and we tell them over and over as if 
loth to let them go. The plastic muscles 
lose their tone, the flesh grows flabby and 
wrinkled, the voice gets thin, the eyesight 
fails, while we neglect the tonic, thought, 
until the years which should have brought 
us added graces have made us infirm and 
old. "The inward man is renewed day by 
day." II Cor., IV, 16. "As in Adam all die, 
so in Christ shall all be made alive." 

The place to begin the new life is here 
and now. The charm of this New Thought 
Life is that we do not have to be qualified 
by stages of preparation for its practice. 
Every act of your life has fitted you for 
the place you now occupy. With all its mis- 
takes and all its blessings let it drift away. 
Take a New Thought of things from this 
time on. Perform the next duty in the very 
best way. Find out just what you desire 
to do, think it over and over again. Eealize 
that you lack neither the ability nor the 



86 The Living Truth 

wisdom to do it in the right way. Keep at 
it in thought and mark how the inspiration 
to successful performance unfolds out of 
sometimes barren conditions. 

"Whatever thy hand flndeth to do, do with 
thy might." 

That is the way. In an old English 
Church there is this inscription in the 
quaint lettering of centuries ago, "Do ye 
nyxt thynge," which is helpful coun- 
sel. Wisdom comes through concentrated 
thought in the line of duty. How are we 
to know what is duty? 

Think about it. If it is a duty then will 
the right direction be given so that it is 
easily performed. The unfolding of the way 
will be like something we have forgotten and 
desire to recall. We keep the mind upon 
it and soon we strike trains of thought which 
will lead up to it, or touch something re- 
lated to it. Suddenly, while we are about 
the business of the day, it flashes upon us 
and the way is plain. The reason of this is, 
in the real Mind, the realm of ideas, is stored 
all that pertains to us and our work in life. 

Our standard of excellence is the good, 
pure life lived not from expediency, but 
because it is good and pure. By such an 



The Living Truth 87 

ideal we stimulate ourselves and become a 
stimulus to others. 

We can not force others to live better 
lives. The choice is with the individual. 
St. Paul said: "Behold, I show you the 
more excellent way." This is all we may 
lawfully do, except to remove or, better still, 
to help them to remove obstacles from the 
way. One's own thought must unbar the 
doors to truth and freedom. This is the 
law. 

Man's first, last, and only lesson is to get 
acquainted with himself, with his own soul. 
Then may we act and think according to 
Principle. To be yourself and not the weak 
copy of another, to believe in and cultivate 
the best in yourself is to help everybody. 

Such is the relation of man to man and 
to the universe that the excellence of one 
helps all the rest. Self-cultivation does not 
mean selfishness, but the broadest love. 

It is the law that we always get our own. 
Our own comes to us whether we will or 
not. We should, then, be watchful that we 
do not get title to things undesirable. 
Thought is formative as we are attractive. 
No disease will take root in the body except 
the soil is prepared for the reception. No 
sick bodies, no disturbed conditions, no false 



88 The Living Truth 

environment, comes to us except we are neg- 
atively prepared for it. "Thou wilt keep 
Mm in perfect peace whose mind is stayed 
on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." 
This, the law as well as the Gospel. Perfect 
peace means life and health. 

Jesus said at the Well of Samaria : "Who- 
soever shall drink of the water that I shall 
give him shall never thirst, but it shall be 
in him a well of water springing up into 
everlasting life." Every generation of life 
in truth adds one to the physical growth and 
activity. The allotted "Three score and ten" 
is an exploded fallacy. 

"Ye ask and receive not because ye ask 
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your 
lusts." What are lusts? Inordinate desire 
not in accord with the God-given purpose of 
life. We have no right to that which must 
be taken from another's rightful share to 
enrich us. Such a misappropriation can 
only make us poorer in the end. In some 
way or another there will come into our 
lives a most bitte* lack which hurts where 
we are the most sensitive. Mankind is one. 
Out of the All-providing Good each may 
take his own, but nothing more. 

To level up this universal supply is not 
the dole of charity nor the chill act of duty, 



The Living Truth 89 

but just the sunny cheer of loving kindness. 

In doing good we should not limit its 
meaning to the benevolent act or intention, 
in the sense of helping with sympathy or 
substance one seemingly more unfortunate 
than ourselves. Never do a loving kindness 
with a sense of our abundance and their 
emptiness, or feel that a kind Providence, 
Good Luck, or so-called Fortune, had failed 
them and lavished upon us. God is no re- 
spector of persons. His Providence is for 
all. Let us then supply the temporary need 
with a sense of stewardship. Let us silently 
or audibly awaken them out of their de- 
pendent sense of non-recognition. Speak to 
them mentally of their own share in the 
boundless goodness of the Infinite which it 
is their privilege to enjoy, each according to 
the need, but which is given only through 
recognition and receptivity. 

Receptivity means the persistent thought 
toward a definite end. This explains why 
the worldly successful gets the money, the 
position, the fame so persistently sought 
for; while the one who takes less thought 
for worldly benefits gets the hard knocks, 
the poverty, and the toil. 

According to this same law, the per- 
sistent seeking for the higher life rarely 



90 The Living Truth 

fails to get temporal, as well as spiritual, 
blessings. "Seek first tlie kingdom of God 
and his righteousness and all these things 
shall be added unto you." You will tell me 
of many royal souls who lived up to a high 
standard and yet were overthrown because 
they could not command the money and 
means to realize their hopes. This is un- 
deniably true, but it is none the less true 
they neglected their own rights in the Al- 
mighty Plan. 

They failed to observe the laws of their 
own bodies through which their lofty souls 
were to function, laws which are as im- 
mutable as any universal law. They 
neglected to "Kest in the Lord," to wait 
patiently for Him that He might give them 
the desire of their hearts. They carried 
burdens they need not have carried had they 
fully realized "Not I, but the Father that 
worketh in me, He doeth the work." 

The solution of the great social question, 
"How to get rid of Poverty," is stirring the 
world. Equal distribution through anarchy 
and war will never solve the problem. It 
will come only through the knowing of what 
God is, and the understanding of the two- 
fold nature of Brotherly Love. 

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide 



The Living Truth 91 

in yon, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall 
be done unto you," To live or abide in the 
spirit, which is in the Christ word, is to 
keep in the current of good things. It is 
to get in close touch with the substance or 
substantial things of Universal Good. 
Spirit means life, and life means manifest 
relations to all created things. It also means 
the mighty moving Principle which orders 
the flow of events, just as the unseen and 
unfelt motion of the earth controls the 
mighty flow of the ocean currents. 

Through these lessons we have acquired a 
New Thought of God and Man. We know 
now that the ignorant abuse of God-given 
faculties is the sum and substance of all sin. 
Some of the most dangerous traits of char- 
acter, if rightly used, would be admirable 
and powerful for good. Let us then try to 
understand the lawful use and not the abuse 
of individual characteristics. Our education 
as the competent physician requires that we 
know the body as well as the soul. That 
we understand the nature and office of every 
part and how this splendid mechanism may 
be helped or hindered by the individual 
temperament. We do not need to change 
characteristics, but to direct them aright. 
Ours is a moral work as well as the physi- 



92 The Living Truth 

cal. Spirit does not need our help. TMs is 
of God and always perfect, as God is perfect. 

The true Metaphysician should be able to 
trace closely God's plan. You, my stu- 
dents, know the "Mark of the calling." 
Press forward to it if you would be effective 
in your chosen work. 

One of the greatest helps is the constant 
realization of the Presence of God and his 
Kingdom within. This gives a new inter- 
pretation to the prayer "Thy kingdom come, 
Thy will be done on earth as it is in 
Heaven." 

This kingdom is the divine center from 
which we live. "To come" means the reveal- 
ing of it to our consciousness. On earth 
means our bodies and all that pertains to 
natural things, and Heaven means God's 
own peace. 

The kingdom within is the divine center 
from which we live. Still, as we may stand 
in the sunlight with eyes wilfully closed and 
realize only darkness, so by doubts, fears, 
and any wrong thoughts we may bar the 
gates to the kingdom. 

"Open thou mine eyes that I may behold 
the wondrous things out of Thy Law." Af- 
firm, "I will see the light, and Uve the 
truth." Ps., XXXVI, 9. 



The Living Truth 93 

I know I am defended from sickness for 
Spirit is the regeneration and reconstructive 
power." John, VI, 63. James V, 15, 

"I am not poor for The Almighty is my 
defence and I shall have plenty of silver." 
Job, XXII, 25. 

"I can not be unjustly spoken of for 
"They shall be hid from the scourge of the 
tongue." Job, V, 2L 

"I can not faint or die, for Christ came 
that I might have life, and have it more 
abundantly." 

If we cultivate a stubborn faith, the calm- 
ness of a well-balanced mind, a self-respect 
from moral strength and purity of purpose, 
a clear hand in time of danger which is best 
acquired by a knowledge of that with which 
we have to deal, the faculty of adapting 
one's self to the needs of all, a love of doing 
good for the sake of good, a spirit of kind- 
ness which is above all preference or preju- 
dice, then may we safely and confidently 
assume the title and office of Metaphysician. 



94 The Living Truth 



SLUMBER SONG 

Now I lay me down to sleep, 

The weary day is done. 

I know the Lord my soul will keep 

The Lord the Loving One, 

The care-worn garments of this day 

I gladly lay aside. 

I know no fear since Thou art near; 

In safety I abide. 

I hear the sea waves on the sands 

In slumbrous cadence fall 

Like pulse beats of the One Great Heart 

Whose life includeth all. 

I hear the night winds through the trees 

Respond to restless deep, 

Thy voice Lord calling through the dark 

My child lie down and sleep. 



The Living Truth 95 



The soft gray shadows close me in, 

My weary eyelids close. 

I know the Eye that never sleeps 

Shall guard my night's repose. 

I know Thine all-enfolding care 

O'er me and mine will keep 

A shepherd's watch, in love and trust 

I lay me down to sleep. 

Lord Thou art with me all the night 

As Thou art everywhere, 

And I shall wake to see the light, 

Still folded in Thy care. 

Oh, blessed faith! Oh, Holy trust! 

My heart forever keep. 

I know no fear since Thou art near, 

I lay me down to sleep. 

—SARAH F. MEADER. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



